page_title: Wildlife of Christmas Island
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Wildlife of Christmas Island / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Map of Christmas. This map was produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, unless otherwise indicated. Maps dated 1976 were taken from The Indian Ocean Atlas, published by the Central Intelligence Agency.
context_page_description: The wildlife of Christmas Island is composed of the flora and fauna of this isolated island in the tropical Indian Ocean. Christmas Island is the summit plateau of an underwater volcano. It is mostly clad in tropical rainforest and has karst, cliffs, wetlands, coasts and sea. It is a small island with a land area of 135 km², 63% of which has been declared a National park. Most of the rainforest remains intact and supports a large range of endemic species of animals and plants.
context_section_description: The island is about 19 kilometres (12 mi) long and 14.5 km (9.0 mi) wide. The total land area is 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi), with 138.9 km (86.3 mi) of coastline. The island is the flat summit of an underwater volcano more than 4,500 m (14,800 ft) high, with about 4,200 m (13,800 ft) being submerged and only about 300 m (1,000 ft) above the surface. Some basalt is exposed in places but most of the surface rock is limestone accumulated from coral growth. The karst terrain supports numerous anchialine pools. Steep cliffs along much of the coast rise abruptly to a central plateau. The island is mainly covered by tropical rainforest, much of which remains intact. Two thirds of the island is included in the Christmas Island National Park which includes rainforests, wetlands, cliffs, shore and coral reefs.
  The climate is tropical and temperatures vary little throughout the year. The highest temperature of around 29 °C (84 °F) usually occurs  in March and April, while the lowest temperature is around 23 °C (73 °F) in August. There is a dry season from July to October with only occasional showers. The wet season is between November and June, and includes monsoons and occasional tropical cyclones.
caption: Topography of Christmas Island
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